Tencent tightens streaming rules in China over regulations

It seems Tencent are not yet off the hook when it comes to China's internet governance regulations as the company announced a new set of rules for all gaming streaming platforms, productions, institutions and streamers under its banner.

Tencent Holdings is, of course, involved with streaming on several fronts as it has it own platform Penguin Esports, as well as hefty investor stake in popular Chinese platforms Douyu, Huya and Bilibili.

The government's regulations came into force some two weeks earlier and are naturally applicable to all the entities that are involved with streaming.

According to the said regulations, Tencent have agreed to prohibit violation of the basic principles of constitutional law and sensitive topics, which includes national politics, nationalities, religions and regions.

Publicising or releasing information on pornography, gambling, cults, terrorism and other similar actions is strictly prohibited. Same goes for activities that directly or indirectly damage Tencent's customer experience or the brand itself.

Also listed are spreading false information by impersonating official Tencent channels, cheating, hacking, account boosting, promotion of "bloody violence in the real world", violation of others' privacy and disclosing of their information without permission.

In light of the incident from November 2018, when a Chinese Honor of Kings streamer switched to Douyu, while still being contracted to Huya, Tencent had to agree to some fair competition regulations as well.

These strictly prohibit "violating the spirit of a contract, unilaterally terminating the contract or signing other unexcused agreements with third parties, during the term of a contract with a streaming platform."

Also banned is content that violates copyrights of game publishers and content creators as well as any sort of content that causes "negative social influences".

Tencent Games
Arena of Valor, i.e. Honor of Kings in China

In case you're not familiar with the aforementioned case, it involved one Jiang 'Haishi' Haitao, a prominent player and streamer in the Honor of Kings community. You should know that it was quite a high profile legal case that set a strong precedent in China, as the fine ended up as high as $7.24 million.